Four and one: They grow up so fast

You can have your cake and eat it too.

“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”

Anne of Green Gables (from LM Montgomery’s children’s classic) must have been talking about the last few weeks in my home when she gave that lovely description, given how perfectly her sentiments echo mine. Yes, that is exactly how things have been around here.

Of course, I will tell you all about it, I’m so glad you asked!

The end of October brought with it birthdays. Beta is four! Beti is one! There is nothing further to be said on either of these facts that won’t sound straight out of a Hallmark card.

I will only say this much: lucky for you, you weren’t in front of me on the actual celebratory day! I might have manically clutched at your collar and shrieked, “How, how, did this happen?”as if I was standing aghast in front of a house that had inexplicably burned down, instead of under a colourful birthday banner, serving the cousins a homemade chocolate cake with green icing as my two gorgeous children in matching felt crowns paraded around grandly.

The passage of time does crazy things to me, we all know this.

“Happy Birthday!” Beta responded cheerfully to everyone who said Happy Birthday to him on his big day.

“Mmah! Mmah!” was the sound of Beti kissing her new doll, with an expression of such grave devotion on her face that it was all I could do to not stop everything and just eat her.

For the next several mornings, there were fat slices of cake for breakfast.

Beta looked at me each time, bewilderment on his face, suspecting that I was going to snatch the plate away and replace it with the typical scrambled eggs.

I wasn’t, and I didn’t. He was thrilled beyond all reason which then made me want to eat him, with all his unbridled joy.

And then my mom came over for a visit. And I got a new phone. I finished a wonderful book.

I discovered a terrific new photo blog. I made a finger lickin’ good roast chicken. I met up with a high school buddy. And I discovered a lovely park just a few minutes from our home.

Right about now, I’m going to have to do the big reveal of my last few weeks … and if you read this column regularly, it may be something you’ve already figured out on your own: Nothing noteworthy actually happened or happens in my life! Which makes it strange that I write so much about it, doesn’t it? I might be putting words to something you’ve only had a sneaking suspicion about, but now you’re like: That’s what it is — she’s totally boring!

And I am. This is life with small children. Every day, I chart infinitesimal changes: a microscopic step forward, a couple of steps back. Also, many lurching steps in no particular direction. In any given period, we all grow, sometimes in ways others don’t notice or appreciate. Beta, the newly-minted four year old, has begun eating things other than grapes and for this I am thankful. He now hugely appreciates Jake and the Neverland Pirates and wrinkles his nose at Dora and her Spanish compatriots. Beti wrinkles her nose at everything because that is the thing to do when you’re a sassy one-year-old. She’s developed a fascination with the washing machine. Hums is coming home from work earlier so our evenings are nicer (some dinnering, some tv-watching, some mild flirting). I’m working on an art project with my sister. We’re all sleeping better because I’ve made the bedroom darker.

I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that life has a comfortable vibe to it, which is breath-taking in its easy-breezy beauty. There’s this poster online that says ‘What Takes Your Breath Away?’ and every time I happen across it, it propels me to make a mental list of all the things in my life, that do exactly that: my son’s face when it lights up in laughter, the curve of my husband’s wrists, when my daughter crinkles her nose at me, the feel of a new book when you run your fingers down its cover, the smell of freshly baked, home-made birthday cake filling your home … the very same cake that your Beta sighs over, “I just want to eat all of it, Mama.”

I smile at him because when I look around at my life, that’s exactly what I want to do — just eat all of it.

Hiba Masood is a stay-at-home mother to four-year-old Beta and one-year-old Beti. Writing about parenting affords her time away from actually doing it.

Connect with Drama Mama online at  www.facebook.com/etdramamama for more thoughts on the crazy ride of motherhood

Published in The Express Tribune, Ms T, November 18^th, 2012.

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